YouTube “How to Inject Illegal Drugs” Videos and Advertisers

Update: There’s a reference to a YouTube playlist titled “How to Shoot Dope” that contained a video by the same name and a video called “Femoral Fiesta” all about teaching kids how to shoot (suboxone or heroin?) in their femoral artery. YouTube deleted the “how to shoot dope” video for “violating YouTube’s policy on the depiction of harmful activities”–yes, what the EFF calls censorship. But fortunately for Internet liberty YouTube left the playlist itself including a link to “The Femoral Fiesta” so kids can learn how to hit that artery like pros.

As MTP readers will recall, in 2011 Google was able to buy their way out of a criminal prosecution for violating the Controlled Substances Act. The price? Chump change for Google, but it sounds like a lot of money: $500,000,000.

Perhaps more importantly, Google promised not to do it again in a nonprosecution agreement (interesting reading here) that kept its senior executives from being indicted. Tell that to the prisoners of mandatory sentencing.

It’s also important to realize that the prosecution by US Attorney Peter F. Neronha was the culmination of a multi-year and multi-agency sting operation. (See Wired’s recent coverage of the complex sting, “Drugstore Cowboy” for more background. Google has done an excellent job of suppressing press coverage of the entire episode, so you will have a hard time finding anything about the multi-billion shareholder lawsuits against Google’s senior executive team, including Sheryl Sandberg–yes, that